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Exciting v-brake pad topic

(17 posts)
  • Started 5 years ago by Sheeptoucher
  • Latest reply from gembo

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  1. Sheeptoucher
    Member

    The bikes are out the shed, I've had a fettle at them with the oil can and the allen keys and this... this is the summer of cycling!

    Of course the one that's getting cycled most is my lovely 10 year old tricross (it carries luggage) and I guess it's gonna need new V-brake pads. Does it matter what I get? Shimano basics, or wiggle have a 4 pack of suspiciously well reviewed cheap ones? The choice used to be Decent or Pish but it seems more complicated now.

    The Kool Stop ones are nice but very spendy, and you can get see through ones!

    And there's ones that fit into holders, they don't have the sticks? Whats that about?

    Posted 5 years ago #

  2. gembo
    Member

    Kool stop are soft so do not wear the rims.. I tried the ones you slide into the holders. The spares not any cheaper so I gave Up on them.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  3. Arellcat
    Moderator

    I used to fit Kool Stops to the exclusion of anything else (brand loyalty from my time with cantis), but my V-brake pad days are now mainly limited to my Brompton, whose mileage is increasing at a vanishingly small rate.

    I just buy cheap Clarke or Ashima pad inserts; they are thicker than Kools or Avids, but you can sand them down a bit so as not to have to readjust your brake pad alignment if it was tuned to original equipment.

    I avoid Shimano V-brake pads entirely. I found them extremely abrasive, and prone to becoming full of tiny shards of aluminium rim, which wore the rim down even faster. Their disc brake pads also seem a bit quick to wear, too.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  4. rbrtwtmn
    Member

    Park Tools to the rescue on identifying the differences in pad design:
    brake pad replacement

    The main advantage to the ones where you slide pads into holders, as far as I can tell, using both, is that if they are set up well they are (if the wind is in the right direction and there's an R in the month) easy to replace.

    If you're unlucky though, you spend as long fighting with the little pin, or trying to get the old pads out, that that advantage is lost.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  5. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Kool Stop for the win. Spendy because stoppy.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  6. gembo
    Member

    This has been an exciting chat

    Posted 5 years ago #

  7. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Screamin' Eagle Excitin'.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  8. Sheeptoucher
    Member

    I haven't decided yet so it's still a live chat!

    Look at these awful things, they check my important boxes of 1) big discount and 2) hideous

    https://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/BSBAVBP/barbieri-super-light-v-brake-pads

    Posted 5 years ago #

  9. gembo
    Member

    Massive reduction down to the sme price as brake blocks

    Posted 5 years ago #

  10. ejstubbs
    Member

    I use Kool Stop on my Tricross - at the rear, anyway (I converted the front to disc a while back). The brake is an Avid Shorty Ultimate, which replaced the no more than just about adequate Tekro cantilever. The rim is still the original Mavic.

    Pads are the cartridge type: the pad holders that came with the Avid brake have a screw to retain the pad rather than a pin - IIRC it takes a 2mm hex key. Unfortunately that still doesn't make pad replacement a completely foolproof procedure - the pad can still stick in the holder to the extent that you need to take the whole thing off. But then I don't find it too difficult to set the brakes up properly anyway, should the need arise. Maybe the v-brake setup fairy waved her wand over me when I was in the cradle.

    I don't particularly object to paying a bit more (within reason) for things like brake pads which IMO are pretty much safety critical equipment. There's an old saying: buy cheap, buy twice. Except that you may not get the chance to buy the second time if your cheap brake pads turn out to be not up to the job...

    Posted 5 years ago #

  11. wingpig
    Member

    Kool Stop. Replaceable pads are easier and cleaner to quickly replace during a limited window like a lunchtime. Replacing the whole pad and grasping wheel rims and brake arms involves Swarfega-level grubbiness.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  12. Roibeard
    Member

    I prefer the replaceable pads as it means less waste - I know the bolts, washers and nuts are trivial in the grand scheme of things, but replaceable cartridges seems more sustainable...

    Robert

    Posted 5 years ago #

  13. steveo
    Member

    I've found most types of brake pads are fine as long as one avoids Shimano, they seem to be made of a particularly grubby type of cheese, and random rubbish from ebay.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  14. sallyhinch
    Member

    Brake pad replacement is one of the few jobs I can competently do on my bike (using the little screw arrangement, as the actress said to the bishop) so it can't be that fiddly or require any upper body strength or skill.

    *cue my broken body being found at the foot of a hill the next time I try and replace my brake pads*

    Posted 5 years ago #

  15. Sheeptoucher
    Member

    I'll bite the bullet and go on wiggle tonight and get some. I had a look at the ones in Alpine Bikes but I didn't like them.

    Sally I owe you an email about snail genetics, I'll get on it.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  16. Snowy
    Member

    Did *everyone* have a Tricross at some point? I'm still riding mine!

    Now on third set of rims though.

    Regardless of brand of brake block, the stopping power of cantis in the wet means you develop psychic powers...

    Posted 5 years ago #

  17. gembo
    Member

    Tricross is my commuting bike 10 years plus

    Posted 5 years ago #

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